In the Midst of You
by NY BrAt 007
Summary: Set January 2002: A new wrestler in the WWE finds problems with self-doubt and fitting in with the unfamiliar crowd backstage until she's taken under the wing of certain temper-tantrum throwing Canadian. Then she sees the light. ChristianOC
1. Chapter 1

_Hey all you guys and girls, what's shaking? This story was written and finished a long time ago (like 2 years) and it's been posted before but then I took it down. I'm in the process of going through and changing most everything around, so I guess it's almost like a new story._

_This takes place in January of 2002. Let me set the scene for you: Triple H just returned from his knee injury, Stephanie was squabbling to get back into the company, thus pretending to be pregnant andaligning herself with one Chris Jericho. The Hardy Boys were split up after a PPV match in which Lita was the referee between the two brothers. With Matt out of the picture, the Undertaker attacked Jeff and Lita and topped it off by throwing them both off of the stage. Christian was stuck in a rut and throwing temper tantrums when he was taken under the wing of DDP. In February of 2002, Vince McMahon led a full scale invasion on the WWF (yes, the 'f' was still in) by bringing in the NWO (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall). _

_Bring ya up to speed enough? If I left anything important out, let me know! And enjoy the story._

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**-RAW-January 2002-**

Kurt Angle began walking back up the ramp when he looked behind him and saw Stephanie McMahon and Triple H hugging in the ring. _Nobody wants to see that_, he thought to himself in disgust as he stalked back to the ring. They were both so engrossed with the other that they didn't notice Kurt until it was too late. He shoved Triple H from behind, causing him to fall right on top of Stephanie. He slid out of the ring and headed back up the ramp with a satisfied smile on his face.

That was too perfect.

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"What can I do for you today?" The grey-haired receptionist behind the desk asked the brunette standing confidently in front of her.

Serena MacKenzie set her multi-colored Christian Dior purse down and smiled. "I just wanted to sign in. I have an appointment with Jim Ross at 2 o' clock."

"Of course," she said, pushing the sign in sheet towards the girl. "You must be Serena then. He should be with you shortly." She turned her gaze back to the computer and then looked back up at the girl. "You do know what they're going to expect you to do, right?"

Serena pursed her lips. "Of course I do. My dad was obsessed with wrestling and my mom couldn't stand it, so naturally I got into it too," she shrugged. "And here I am."

The receptionist laughed. "Well I'm glad you know. You wouldn't believe how many young people come here and don't know what they're getting into. I believe one boy walked right out of Mr. Ross' office when he was shown some videos of what they expected," she paused as the phone rang, checked the ID and picked it up. "Yes Mr. Ross, how may I help you? Of course, I'll send her right in." She hung up and looked at Serena, who was looking around the lobby. "He's ready for you. Take this first elevator to the sixth floor, turn left and his office is going to be the third one on the right. You can't miss it."

Serena nodded and pulled down on the hemline of her short khaki skirt. She walked into the elevator, swiped her temporary pass card in the lock and then waited as it rose steadily to the sixth floor. She showed a security guard her pass as she stepped off and turned to her left.

"Ross, Ross," Serena muttered to herself, looking at the names on the doors. She stopped in front of the dark mahogany door with 'Jim Ross' etched into the glass and knocked lightly.

"Come in," a not-so-commanding voice called from inside.

"Hello Serena," Jim Ross said as she entered the room. He shook her hand and motioned for her to take a seat.

She sat down across from him and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

JR smiled tightly after taking in her appearance. "Let me ask you something Miss MacKenzie." She looked at him expectantly. "Did you really feel that outfit was appropriate for a meeting with your potential employer?" Her smile faltered. "While we are admittedly laid back here at the WWF, I feel that you could've put a little bit more consideration into your choice of clothing."

Serena was wearing her khaki miniskirt paired with a sleeveless black chiffon scarf top and black stilettos that wrapped around her ankles.

"I was just trying to look nice," she admitted, her voice wavering and JR remained unmoved

"That may be the way some of our ladies dress in the ring," he said. "But outside we wish for our employees to look as professional as possible."

"I just blew my chance, didn't I?" Serena asked and felt tears beginning to prick in the corners of her eyes.

JR took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He seemed like he had had a very tough day already and it was only 2. "I wouldn't say completely blew your chance." He reached down and pulled a file from his drawer and laid it on top of his desk. "The one reason I called to meet you was because of your talent, not your apparel. When I talked with Carter he told me that out of all of the females and some of the males in OVW, you made quite an impression on him."

"Oh," was all Serena could say. She didn't want to get her hopes up especially after the clothing fiasco.

"At our last meeting your name came up," he said. "And it was met with some very positive reaction. You remember that match you had with Nidia a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah, I was really surprised when they told me about that match," Serena replied honestly.

He smiled. "Well that was your audition. And everybody was exceedingly impressed."

Serena clutched her purse tightly, willing herself not to get prematurely excited.

JR pulled a few pieces of paper from the file and a pen from his desk and pushed the pile over to her.

"Is that, is that my, my—"

"Your contract," JR supplied gently. "We want to sign you with the WWF before somebody else snatches you up." Serena knew he was talking specifically about the up and coming TNA promotion.

She picked up the pen and took a deep breath before signing her name next to all of the 'sign here' stickers.

JR stood up and held out his hand, which she shook gratefully. "Welcome to the WWF."

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_Read and review because you're beautiful. Updates will come frequently (if you want them, of course). And in closing, I shall see you next chapter!_

_Manda_


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two for you all. Thank you for the reviews! Even two made me happy. Enjoy this chapter!**

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--9 days later on RAW--

"Serena, we've found the perfect place for you," JR said later that night.

"That's great to hear. I thought you forgot about me or something," she said honestly. They hadn't phoned her until 5 o'clock on Saturday to tell her they'd need her on Monday. Not that she was complaining, but a little notice would've been nice. "So where should I be? Or rather, with whom?"

He laughed. "We're going to be putting you in an angle with Kurt Angle. Tonight he has a tag-team match with Chris Jericho against Triple H and Steve Austin. Both Jericho and Austin are going to be knocked down. Triple H is going to cover Kurt, but that's when you come out and stop that from happening. You got that?"

Serena nodded eagerly. "Definitely."

"Good. Now go get changed," he said, and then pointed to a door down the hall. "The divas dressing room is down that hall to the left. If you'll excuse me, I'm being paged."

She nodded as she watched him hurry away then turned the way he pointed. She was passing by an intersecting hallway, too engrossed in finding the locker room that she bumped into someone. She looked up and saw the blonde haired, former European Champion, Christian. "Sorry," she said, her cheeks turning a nice pink color.

"Nothing to worry about," he replied, looking at her briefly. "I'm Jason, but I haven't seen you backstage before. Who are you?"

"Serena MacKenzie," she answered quickly, probably too quickly. _I probably came off sounding like some over eager fan, smooth_. "This is my first night"

"Ahh, a Monday night Raw virgin huh?" He teased. "Need anybody to show you around?"

She smiled. "Actually, the diva's locker room seems to have disappeared since JR pointed me towards it. If you know where it is, that'd be fabulous."

Christian nodded. "That I can do." Serena looked at him curiously and held up his hands in defense. "I don't spend much time in or around it though." He caught her arm before she went in. "Do you think you're going to need someone to show you around on Thursday?"

"I think I might," Serena said and he let go of her arm. "I'll see you later." She slipped into the room and sighed when she saw it was empty. She had been hoping to meet a few of the divas. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her clothes, a pair of super low-rise, faded jeans with rhinestones on the back pockets and a short, red white and blue striped tube top. She crimped a few sections of her hair and topped the outfit off with a white leather armband and semi-big silver hoop earrings.

"Next, on Raw. The main event tag-team match with the team of Kurt Angle and the Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho against the team of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Game, Triple H. Stay tuned."

Serena glanced at the TV as a Final Fantasy X commercial come on and shoved her feet into her sneakers. She left the room to go wait at the entrance. She grabbed a chair, sat down, and waited nervously as the match went under way.

Twenty minutes later Serena waited in anticipation when she saw both Austin and Jericho lying unconscious outside the ring. She saw Triple H crawling towards a motionless Kurt Angle and took a deep breath and pushed through the heavy black curtains when she saw him drape one arm over Kurt's chest.

Serena ran out as fast as she could, thankful that she decided to wear sneakers and dove into the ring as the two-count was reached. She yanked on Triple H's leg to pull him off of Kurt and smiled sweetly when he turned to glare. She distracted the referee and smiled when she saw Kurt get up.

"Who's that JR!" The King was yelling. "Where'd she come from!"

Triple H was still glaring at her with his back to Kurt Angle, who took the opportunity to reach up and roll Triple H into a pin.

"He's got him pinned," Serena yelled to the referee, who rushed over and counted to three.

Kurt jumped up and looked at Serena uneasily until she smiled at him, took his hand and raised it to the audience's applause.

"So who are you?" Kurt asked once they were out of the audience's vision.

She held out her hand and he shook it slowly, still looking confused. "I'm Serena. I'm your valet now, I guess."

Kurt pondered that for a minute before spinning on his heel and stalking down the hall. "Vince!" Kurt yelled, trying to find his boss.

"I don't even care who you are, but what the hell do you think you're doing!" A female voice shrieked from down the hall. "You think you can flounce in here, interfere in my husband's match and cost him the win? I don't think so!"

Serena looked wide-eyed as Stephanie McMahon stalked towards her. "I was just helping the guy I was told to. It was nothing against your husband," she tried walking past her to go into the locker room but Stephanie blocked her path. "Excuse me."

Stephanie glared at her. "I'm going to talk to my father and when I do, you will be fired. Flair made a stupid decision when he hired you," she looked down her nose at Serena. "I bet you don't even know how to wrestle."

"Stephanie, I don't want my first meeting with you to be like this so I'll search you out when you're not being such a bitch," Serena said, unfazed. "Now if you'll excuse me," she trailed off pointedly and shut the door.

Serena started to change out of her ring clothes, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "I don't know what your problem is," she said, pulling open the door. "But you're really-Oh," she blushed when she saw Kurt Angle standing there, a knowing look on his face. "Sorry, wrong person."

"Ah yes, that tirade must've been aimed at Princess McMahon," he answered with a smile. "I just wanted to say sorry if I came across as rude earlier. It's just that they're supposed to tell us about something like this beforehand. I guess you're going to be accompanying me to ringside now, huh?"

"As long as they keep telling me too," Serena replied. "Congratulations on your win, by the way."

He laughed. "Yeah, thanks to you. So I guess that means you're going to be there Thursday for my match against Edge?"

Serena nodded. "I'm kinda obligated. But you know William Regal is going to come out with those brass knuckles."

"Yeah, but that's only good for us as long as we both stay away from him." He turned to leave the room. "I'll see you Thursday then." She nodded and he left the room.

She glanced into the mirror. _This was definitely going to be an interesting experience_, she thought to herself, swinging her bag over her shoulder as she headed out to the car.

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